Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Country Ham

Never had country ham. I suspect its probably a lot like what my great Grand parents on the Drewniak side would make.

Looked at a place called Benton's country ham. They are 80 bucks or so. Not sure if that includes shipping.



Do the locals in Country Ham country eat a lot of this stuff? Can you get it much cheaper than that?


Is it considered a delicacy?


The mass produced hams we get are under 2 bucks a pound.


Just curious.

As to the title, is it in Ireland?

Drier, more salty, kinda more...solid.


Talking salt cured, smoked. Like my grandparents did them.

Not the dehydrated in salt hams from Virginia.

Good catch.

We eat a lot of country ham. We also have a lot of heart surgeries. My wife likes to boil an entire country ham. It is delicious that way, as well as sliced and fried. If you like salty, smoky meat, you’ll love it.

we eat country ham form time to time. We usually fry it in coke, it takes a little of the salt out and gives it a little sweet taste. You wind up with a sweet and salty state.

It seems awful expensive.


Must be some cheaper options locally?

Every country ham I've had was too salty for my tastes. You've gotta offset the salt with something like a biscuit, and you don't eat a lot of it, not like regular ham.

The wife washes the ham sliced to reduce salt before cooking. She likes to cook in
“ red eye gravy “! Very good!

Not the Irish! Lol.

Jim- I doubt it includes shipping. The hams ain’t huge, but not small either. Maybe 15-20#’s? Also being cured, there is very little moisture to them. They are quite hard and dry. Many folks soak them before trying to slice and cook.

Lots of folks with good country hams, Benton is definitely one of the best. Super nice folks behind the counter. Call them up and see if they’ve a minute for some questions.

Jim, here's a little tutorial about how one smokehouse makes country ham:

http://dardenscountrystore.com/HamminItUp.html


My wife went to school with the woman who runs it with her husband. We got the tour of the smokehouse, it was pretty cool. New York Times did a big write-up on 'em about 10 years ago.

Interesting fact, they coat the hams with black pepper while they're smoking, to keep bugs off. IIRC, they told us the black pepper was one of their biggest expenses, they use a ton of it.

My family never smoked them. Just hand rubbed in curing salt, & rubbed some more. Dad, my mom's dad, dad's sister, neighbors, the whole bunch cured the same. They all dreaded doing it as their hands would get so raw.

Put inside a heavy paper sack & hung for about a year. That might indicate the expense of one that's properly done. A big slice cooked med-rare in cast iron & country eggs fried in the ham grease might be the best breakfast there is.

I’ve always soaked them overnight, discarded the water and with fresh water bring it to a boil then let it soak for a few hours before putting it in the oven. I don’t know what my ex MIL did, but being too salty was never a problem….country ham is the best…

Google "Smithfield country ham"... it was the Gold Standard forever. At least for us Virginians

IMHO... shave as thin as possible (often called chipping)... amazing stuff... on top of biscuits and gravy... chipped beef... grilled cheese sandwiches... you use VERY LITTLE... VERY THIN and VERY LITTLE...

Hell, looking at an ice cream maker here in the corner... I would make bacon or country ham ice cream even. The salt/Sodium is a killer... be careful or your BP will jack.

A dried ham will last for months...

Smithfield bought by China 3 or so years ago.

https://www.myrecipes.com/extracris...any-three-years-ago-has-anything-changed

Hell... China owns everything anymore... your bourbon is probably owned by China... fugg I hate that...

Eat it at Waffle House about once a month!

Tasty but not good for you.


Mike

Try and find a grocery store and buy a pound shaved/chipped as thin as a rolling paper. Jungle Jims in Ohio used to do that for me. Your family will go bonkers... or not... then buy a leg... or make your own... might be some money in it for you?

Huh. That's interesting.

Yeah, I like it in small doses but when I buy a whole ham I find that I can't eat a bunch of it.

They can be salty depending on how they're cured. I love it that way but not allot. This place is not far from me https://www.smokehouse.com/ham.html. Yep high priced stuff but good. The walmarts around here had them in their stores some time ago but I have no idea now. An ambitious person could grow their own hogs and cure the hams themselves as what was once common. When I was a kid we cured some with sugar. Those were good too.

I buy this brand of sliced ham at the local grocery. My mom boiled country hams then baked them. I rinse the sliced then cook them. Frying the slices in a bit of black coffee is good.